After nearly three hours of being stuck in the silt Gardnerville's Danny Bolton and Brad Bolton placed fifth at the Best in the Desert's second race of the 2007 series, the Terrible's Town 250 on Saturday. The team is second in points for the Class 7,200 Championship.
The Bolton cousins finished the race on the same BFGoodrich tires they've been using since the Vegas to Reno race last August. That's more than 1,200 miles on the same tires.
"We were definitely worried about getting flats," said Danny. "Three races. Same tires. The Baja T/As have definitely proven themselves in the fight against the desert."
The Terrible's Town 250 is known as the "Richest Off-Road Race in Nevada" and is one of the most popular races in the series due to $40,000 in prize money, The race was contested over a 242 mile loop course that started near Pahrump.
Danny started the race behind Barry Karakas who was behind Team Orbit. He passed Karakas' No. 7,211 Toyota Tacoma about six miles into the race. The hood flew off at race mile seven and Danny charged on.
The team drove through pit one, located at race mile 18.8, and was neck in neck with Team Orbit, Team Certified and Dixon. Danny passed Orbit's No. 7,201 Ford Ranger while they were stopped at pit one.
At race mile 23 the truck felt funny in the front. "We thought we had a flat," said Brad. "We pulled over. I jumped out. Nothing was wrong."
Brad got back in the truck and Danny tried to get back on course, but the silt had sucked them in. They had some digging to do. Orbit came from behind and Brad waved them on while Danny was dancing at them.
Mike Ruane from Orbit said, "We were having a rough time and I was frustrated, but I saw Danny dancing and got in a better mood. This is supposed to be fun!"
The Boltons spent about 30 minutes digging their No. 7,223 Ford Ranger out of the silt.
"I'll never make that mistake again," said Danny. "Next time, I won't pull over unless I see rubber flying."
They got stuck in the silt three more times before stopping at pit four to refuel, change an air filter, and switch drivers. Brad jumped in the driver's seat and charged on only to have the truck overheat between pit four and pit five. Brad took it easy to cool the truck down and Orbit passed them.
The friendly competition continued and Brad passed Orbit while they were stopped with a flat tire. He caught up to and passed Karakas who was stopped before pit eight. But he knew the competition was close because Karakas' co-pilot was getting back in the truck.
Twenty miles from the finish, Brad saw Dixon just ahead and began to chase him down when the Boltons' No. 7,223 died and rolled to a stop. Knowing Karakas was close behind they were in a rush to get the truck rolling again.
The ignition light wouldn't turn on so they knew they had a wiring problem. Brad and Danny pulled the dash out and began to troubleshoot just as Karakas passed them. About 45 minutes to an hour later, they fixed a problem with the fuel pumps and ignition and charged on.
Brad drove to the finish while Danny held the dash in place with his foot. After nearly eight and a half hours on course the Boltons reached the finish, placing fifth in class and 76th overall.